Ruminations and ponderings by the Last of the Montgomery Rebels Fans on the Montgomery Biscuits and Montgomery Alabama area baseball history.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Season In Review

A tale of a season, though not a good season, with extra butter and syrup.

In April the Biscuits were fresh and the spring air filled with the scent of hope.

First workout at home

13-12 in our first twenty five games, and we would feel okay with it. We hosted Birmingham, Mobile and Birmingham a second time. We had our first rain out on the road, then split the doubleheader.

we woke up with Andrew Bellatti

Nine days into the season, Zach Quate hit the DL for our first roster move of the year, and Albert Suarez joined him the next day. Andrew Belatti arrived on the 14th of April, and on the 15th Jim Patterson was put on the Disabled List.

On the 19th of April the Biscuits hitters exploded for a dozen runs in the seventh inning of a home game against Mobile, setting a new team record for hits and runs in a single inning.

We were two pitchers short until the 20th, when we were assigned Matt Nevarez. Kyeong Kang arrived on April 26th, as Brett Nommensen was taken off the roster to rehab his injury.
It was a month of injury and barely .500 play, we were left without a full squad of pitchers but the bullpen was spectacular late in games. Riefenhauser got the closers job and didnt give it up.

MAY

Vs the Generals, of course!

In May we were again hosed by the schedule maker, traditionally our best weather month we only had two home series! We saw the Skitz host the Braves and the Generals, losing both series, including a 19-2 shellacking from the MsBraves in game one.

JR Graham pitched for the Braves

Quate and Greg Sexton were released on the 16th, Steve Tinoco and Keith Castillo replacing them on the roster. Nevarez hit the DL on the 23rd and Juan Sandoval was sent to Durham just before the end of the month.

In May we had a foreshadowing moment, during an at bat by Mark Thomas the field sprinkler system started up, soaking everyone and causing a delay. Later the team would endure a constant string of rain delays and rain outs, both at home and on the road. Thomas would have his season interrupted later in the summer, but here he had just lifted a single to right field when.....

15 wins and 14 losses kept us afloat in the standings through the end of
the month, including series wins on the road against tough teams in
Bham and the Braves, but we were living on borrowed time.

On the roster, Jake Floethe was replacing Matt Buschmann in the rotation on the last day of May.

Buschmann in road grays

JUNE

We played host to Pensacola and Huntsville, two of the worst teams in the league, and played .500 against them. Jim Paduch was added to the roster on the same day as the Biscuits grabbed Eric Hamren from the Braves. Mike Colla arrived as Bellatti was optioned back to single-A.

Merrill Kelly

We went to Jacksonville, won the road series as the first half of the season ended and came back to face Pensacola again - this time losing three of the five games to the last place Wahoos!

At this point Merrill Kelly got a ticket to Durham and the Biscuits rotation would not compete in the division again.

Welcome to the team!

O'Malley hit the DL on the 20t and Reliever Jim Patterson was sent to Charlotte on the 21st. Replacing them Montgomery received Hector Guevara, who was heartily beaned in his first game.

Patterson
returned on the 28th from his demotion to the StoneCrabs. Reifenhouser
was summoned to Durham and Sandoval returned in his place.

We took a series in Chattanooga and came back home to face the Tn Smokies as the calendar flipped to July.

JULY

In July the Biscuits swooned, winning just 11 and dropping 16. Riverwalk hosted the Smokies, the Wahoos again, and Jacksonville. The Skitz lost three of five in the first two home series, but won the "Rain Turtle Series" against Jacksonville, playing back to back days of doubleheaders.

Rain Turtle over Montgomery

The AllStar game for the league took place in Jacksonville, Cameron
Seitzer won the home run derby with four homers, two in each round.
Amazing as he had only one homer during the regular season up to that
point!

Seitzer takes a break from hitting bombs

Riccio Torrez broke his hand, ending a nice season at third base, and O'Malley was activated to replace him.

Mark Thomas

The road trips were all M's, twice to Mobile and once to Miss Braves, with us losing each of the series three games to two. At the end of the trip to Mobile, on July 23rd, we learned of Mark Thomas suspension for fifty games.

The following day Kevin Kiermaier was ticketed to Durham and the Biscuits added Curtis Casali to the active roster.

AUGUST

How quickly the summer passed, as August dawned it was easy for Biscuits to see that this was not the year for them. The wins and losses mattered a little less in the last month, fifteen victories to fourteen defeats, but a pair of contests loom large among the many over the past ten years.

The Victor Mateo no hitter was a first for Riverwalk and for many fans it was the highlight of the season. It completed the turnaround for Mateo, a first half to forget became a second half to remember.

Mateo awaits his chance to close out the no hitter

Almost as rare as a no hitter was the fact that it was supported by a Cameron Seitzer home run at Riverwalk! Skip ahead to 1:10 if you dont care to see the full at bat....

BEST FOR LAST
Also to be counted among the greatest games played in Montgomery history perhaps, was the final home game of the year. The tilt against the Jville Suns was as intense and hard fought as any Biscuits team has ever been involved in, and will not soon be forgotten by baseball fans in the capitol city, who enjoyed whipping the Suns in an effort to spoil their playoff hopes.

Dietrich turned everyone against him, even Monty!

Delmon Young's Biscuit return

It was a rough season for Biscuits fans, but rewards in the form of a no hitter, Delmon Young's return and the final victory over rival Jacksonville are sweet relief from the last place standing in 2013.

More often than not the team was down at least one player, often we had to wait for days to get replacements who were often less effective than the players they were there to fill in for.

We had some very good moments in spite of the forgettable record, but hopefully next years Biscuits have a little more of what the fans look for - Victories!